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12/7/99 page 1 of 3

Past Letters (10/8/99) • Puzzled! • MMORPGs? To Archive

KEEP UP THE GOOD WORK!
GameSpot,

I just wanted to thank you guys for having such a great games page. I just got a cable modem a few days ago, and I want you to know there's nowhere else on the Internet that I can download two files at 100kbps each. Nowhere. Whenever you guys get a new demo, I download it and try it out. Not only that, but your reviews are great, and the game guides are very helpful when I'm stuck on something. Basically, GameSpot rules!

-Erik

Erik,

Thanks for writing in. And thanks so much for the kind words. We're glad you enjoy our demos, and we encourage everyone to bookmark both our downloads section and GameSpot's Software Library for all the latest and greatest game demos. Thanks for checking out our reviews and game guides as well. And don't miss GameSpot's latest and greatest service: You can now order your very own demo disc with the demos you choose.


LET'S TALK REVIEWS
One of the most important things we do at GameSpot is game reviews. Here's what some of you are saying:

LETTER #1
Hello,

I have been reading your reviews for quite some time and have been an anonymous beta tester for even longer. I was very interested in your review of Homeworld since it gave a new direction to real-time strategy games. The 8.9 overall seemed a little low since it was a groundbreaker, and Relic really managed to pull off an interface that is superior to many 2D games in several respects. Now I read that Age of Empires II gets a 9.1. Not only is this game a sequel, but it treads no new ground whatsoever. I don't own the game, but I wonder whether reviews like this will cause the gaming industry to continue giving us sequels rather than new ideas.

-Joe

Reviews Editor Greg Kasavin responds:

Joe,

Thank you for the letter. You raise an interesting point, because I do agree with you that Age of Empires II is a far more derivative game than Homeworld. We compared these two games very carefully before rating them and closely considered the implications of scoring Age II higher.

Homeworld's greatest strengths are its presentation and its originality; it looks and sounds unlike anything that came before it and deserves a lot of credit, if only for those reasons. However, Age of Empires II provides more longevity, and in my opinion, more depth. Thus, whereas Homeworld scored higher than Age II in graphics and sound, Age II scored higher in value and gameplay. Both games earned a reviewer's tilt of 10 for being some of the finest examples of their genre, which they are.

Yours is really a question of how important it is for a game to be original. And the answer, I think, is that originality is absolutely crucial. Games like Homeworld and Thief become popular largely because they're so different.

And yet, as important as it is for a game to be original, it is even more important for that game to play well. And this is why Age of Empires II, in emphasizing its versatility and replay value, finally scored higher than Homeworld - which, belying its awesome sense of scale, is a much shorter, much smaller game.

Of course, these two games' scores are minimally different, which is to suggest that one game is by no means fundamentally superior to the other game. Similarly, I think Homeworld's unanimous critical acclaim will sooner lead designers to copy that design, rather than look to it as inspiration to produce original games. I hope this begins to address your concerns.

-Greg Kasavin
Reviews Editor, GameSpot

LETTER #2
From: "Haim"
To: inbox@gamespot.com
Subject: Asheron's Call
Date: Fri, 12 Nov 1999

Hi there,

Being an avid fan of this site, I was very disappointed that you have not yet done a review of Asheron's Call. I am trying to decide if I will purchase the game, and your reviews are a serious factor in that decision. However, while reviews for games usually come out a day or two before they are available to the public, in this case your review hasn't, and I am very disappointed. The game has been out for over a week, and still no review. What is the reason for that? Is it a new trend where you guys do not wish to influence the consumers?

Anyway, I am looking forward to your thoughts, both regarding Asheron's Call, or regarding reviews in general.

-Haim

Haim,

Thanks for writing in. Though it's true that GameSpot reviews sometimes do come out relatively early, in some cases they don't. This isn't because we're deliberately withholding our advice until long after the game hits the shelves. It's because we want to make sure we play each game enough to present an informed and insightful review, and as such, we can't always post our reviews just as or just after games hit the shelves. Asheron's Call is a perfect example - it's a complex online RPG. Learning the basics of the game takes time, to say nothing of the more involved aspects like exploration and advancing to higher character levels. In a game as complex as this, it's entirely possible to play for a few hours and get a first impression that doesn't really reflect on the game as a whole. Writing a shallow, uninformed review based solely on a first impression doesn't do anything for anyone - it doesn't do justice to the developers and the game they created, and it doesn't do anything for our readers, who may otherwise go out and buy a game on such a shallow recommendation... and find something very different from what they've read about.


LETTER #3
This is regarding GameSpot's review of Civilization II: Test of Time, MicroProse's latest milking of the Civ II franchise.

I am glad I read your review of the game (as well as other player reviews). As soon as I found out that the multimedia clips for the Wonders of the World were omitted and interaction with other cultures was nothing more than a blank wall with no animated representative, I knew I made a good decision in not purchasing this product for the full $49.99 price at a nearby store. Another store was selling it cheaper ($19.99), which prompted the urge.

After reading your review, I was lucky to find the original version of Civ II (full retail box version) for $9.99. Don't you just love bargain-bin deals, especially quality bargain-bin deals? This wasn't the Gold version (I steered clear because of GameSpot's reviews on that product).

Again, I thank you for the informative reviews.

Sincerely,
Ruben

Ruben,

Thanks for writing in. We're glad you were able to use our review and reader reviews to help you make the right decision. Enjoy your purchase, and enjoy your game.

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